Bhagavad-gita 1.43

Arjuna Condemns His Own Plan to Fight

📅 July 30, 1973 📍 London ⏱ 37 min
Control the senses by engaging them in Krishna's service, not through artificial suppression.
Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca

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skips due to faulty equipment] They must be very alert, very careful, how to keep Lord Viṣṇu or Kṛṣṇa satisfied. That is our only business. So you should not neglect it. Then utsanna-kula-dharmānām..., then you will spoil everything.

When you have invited Viṣṇu or Kṛṣṇa, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, to accept your service, you must be very, very careful how to render service—how cleansely, how nicely you have to serve. Otherwise everything will be spoiled. Utsanna-kula-dharmānām. A Vaiṣṇava's kula-dharma is simply to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. So in the...

Manuṣyāṇāṁ. Actually, human life begins when he is ready to serve the Supreme Lord, Viṣṇu. That is human life; otherwise the animal life. Therefore the whole world is in chaos.

They are not eager to serve Viṣṇu. They are simply eager to serve their senses. Go-dāsa, servant of the senses. So instead of becoming servant of the senses, you have to become master of the senses.

That is called gosvāmī. If you remain servant of the senses, then you are go-dāsa. Kāmādināṁ katidhā kati na... [Cc. Madhya 22.16]. That is animal life. But when you become master of the senses... How it is possible, master of the senses? Now, if you employ your senses always in the service of Kṛṣṇa, your senses are already controlled.

Just like your tongue. Your tongue asks you, "Go to the restaurant and eat some nice thing." But if you are a Vaiṣṇava, if you have this vow that "I shall not allow my tongue to eat anything except prasādam," it is already controlled. Gosvāmī. That means, to control the senses means to engage the senses in the service of the Lord.

This is control. Otherwise, by force... Just like the yogīs, they try artificially by some gymnastic. That may be possible for some time, but it is... There are many instances, it became...

Sense ControlDevotional ServiceVarnashramaKrishna ConsciousnessReincarnationKarma
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